Fans settle suit over playoff tix

A legal dispute over Cubs playoff tickets was settled today after an 84-year-old fan agreed to split the games with the two suburban businessmen who bought his entire regular-season package.

The settlement came after Cook County Circuit Judge Mary K. Rochford, a White Sox fan, intervened and encouraged the parties to compromise. Under the deal, both sides will have the opportunity to attend next week's division series, as well as potential National League Championship and World Series games.

The businessmen will pay face value for the tickets, said attorney Clint Krislov, who represented ticket-holder Jerry Slavin. It would have been easier to simply give each party tickets to every game, but they refused to sit together.

"It was a crazy suit," said Krislov, a baseball fan who said he wasn't charging Slavin. "I suppose only in Chicago can this happen."

Business partners Laurence Wright and Brad Ginsberg sued Slavin on Thursday, claiming they paid more than $15,000 earlier this year for his four regular-season seats in the first row of the upper deck and had a handshake deal with him for the postseason games. Slavin, who began going to the games with his father when he was 5, denies it.

Slavin, a widower, said he stopped attending games in 2006 after undergoing bypass surgery and two hip operations. Rather than cancel the seats, he sold them to Wright, the son of a longtime friend.

Earlier this month, Wright, 51, called Slavin about the postseason tickets and Slavin said he intended to take his family to as many games as his health allowed and sell the rest.

The entire playoff package will cost Slavin about $5,200. His attorneys suggested he could sell the four seats for as much as $40,000 to a broker.

Wright's father, Jerry, testified on his son's behalf, but said he does not intend to end his 35-year relationship with Slavin. The old friends have dined at Morton's The Steakhouse each Monday night for nearly a decade and neither plans to cancel next week.

Slavin predicted their friendship would survive, but he would not make any promises about the Cubs postseason chances.

"I don't want to jinx them," he said. "I've been saying that since 1928."